Morphology

Morphology

Overall this is a low shrub. (Hultman, 1978) The plant is an erect shrub. (Peattie, 1930) It is a low, straggling shrub form. (NPIN, 2007) Roots are shallow and fibrous but may possess a taproot. (USDA FEIS, 1991)

Flowers are white and bell-like. (Hultman, 1978) Flowers have 10 stamens. Racemes (common pedicels) are short, about 5-flowered. The corolla is green, or greenish bordered with red and cylindric-urn-shaped. (Peattie, 1930) Small, white, pink-tinged, bell-shaped flowers. (NPIN, 2007) Flowers are white, 5-parted, and urn-shaped. The lobes are shorter than the tube. (UW, 2009)

Fruit Dark blue berries are covered with a white powder, have many seeds, and are edible. (Hultman, 1978) The fruit are oblate-spheroid a bloom. They are sweet and edible. (Peattie, 1930) Fruit are blue, shiny berries with many seeds. (UW, 2009)

Leaves are egg-shaped and may have a few bristle-tipped teeth. They become leathery with age. (Hultman, 1978) Leaf margins are entire. Leaves are oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, spatulate or elliptic, acute, and narrowed at base. The margin is sharply serrulate, sparingly pubescent on both surfaces at first, finally smooth or nearly smooth. (Peattie, 1930) Glossy foliage turns from red-green in spring to dark blue-green in summer to maroon-purple in fall. (NPIN, 2007) Leaves are deciduous, smooth, and narrowly elliptical with tiny, sharp teeth. (UW, 2009)